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Prosecutor: Woman shot neighbor to keep him quiet

By RYAN J. FOLEY

Associated Press

By RYAN J. FOLEY

Associated Press

Eds: Corrects to ‘fianc’ in sixth paragraph. With AP Photos.

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — Iowa prosecutors tried Wednesday to debunk a woman’s long-held claim that she was the victim of a home invasion when she shot a 20-year-old neighbor in 2001 and started building their case that she killed him as part of a bizarre plot to frame her ex-husband.

Prosecutor Douglas Hammerand said in an opening statement that Tracey Richter committed first-degree murder in the Dec. 13, 2001, death of Dustin Wehde at her home in Early, a small town in northwest Iowa. He said Richter had Wehde write a diary saying he had been hired by her ex-husband to kill her, but then she killed Wehde hours later after they were interrupted and she worried he would tell others about what he had done.

Richter, 45, appeared to fight back tears as defense attorney Scott Bandstra repeated her version of events in his opening statement: Richter was home with her three children when Wehde and another man broke in and strangled her with pantyhose before she was able to break free, secure her children in a bedroom, unlock the gun safe in her bedroom, grab two guns and shoot Wehde nine times. Bandstra said the alleged second intruder fled. At one point, the attorney even took his tie off and put it around Richter’s neck to illustrate how she was allegedly choked.

But one prosecution witness, an emergency responder who treated Richter, said the red mark on the front of her neck was not consistent with strangulation. The deputy who arrived first on the scene said Richter told him that two intruders, not one, had fled the house. And a friend who planned to spend the night at Richter’s home that evening said she was surprised when Richter cancelled their plans hours before the shooting.

The prosecution is expected to continue its case Thursday in Fort Dodge. The jury of six men and six women listened intently to testimony and studied pictures of Wehde’s dead body, Richter’s bruised neck and the two-story Victorian home where the shooting happened.

Richter blew a kiss at her fianc, who sat in the front row, as she entered court.

Hammerand told jurors the prosecution’s case centers on a pink spiral notebook that investigators found in Wehde’s car after the shooting. The diary appears to be in Wehde’s handwriting and claims Richter’s ex-husband John Pitman hired him to kill her and their 11-year-old son, Bert, and make it look like a murder-suicide. Hammerand said investigators decided to keep the notebook a secret because they knew anyone with knowledge of it was involved in the death. Richter told a friend a few months after the shooting that it had been found and would lead to Pitman’s arrest.

Pitman, who divorced Richter in 1996, was seeking custody of Bert at the time, and a court hearing was scheduled in two months. Richter worried she would lose her child and Pitman’s $1,000-per-month child support if Wehde told police he had created the diary, Hammerand said. The notebook contains details few people knew, such as the name of Pitman’s divorce attorney, he said.

Hammerand said Wehde’s writing in the notebook was interrupted mid-sentence when Richter’s friend, Marie Friedman, showed up at her door, planning to spend the night. Friedman testified that no one answered the door for several minutes, but Richter came out as Wehde was leaving.

Friedman said she was surprised when Richter told her she could not stay over because she had to pick up Bert from basketball practice. They had planned a stay-over because her husband worked at Richter’s husband’s computer business and the men were away on business. She said she left after they had tea and talked for an hour.

Hammerand said Richter then had Wehde come over again, and she killed him in her bedroom, firing nine shots, including 3 to the back of the head that would have been instantly fatal.

Bandstra, the defense attorney, portrayed Wehde as an anti-social loner who had a history of mental health issues and aggressive behavior. He said prosecutors will not be able to prove that he had permission to be in Richter’s home that night or that she had him write the diary.

Testimony from Friedman and her husband, Ray, backed up his description. Ray Friedman said he had played paintball with Wehde, thought he was deeply troubled and told his wife and Richter’s then-husband, Michael Roberts, to stay away from him. Roberts was friendly with Wehde.

“Biblically speaking, he was not saved. I felt like he needed a savior,” Ray Friedman testified. “I just feel like maybe he felt hopeless at the time.”

Marie Friedman said Richter told her Wehde was at her home asking for work at the computer business, and she was glad when he left because he made her feel uncomfortable.

Both Friedmans, who now live in Florida, said they saw Richter at the hospital and she was distraught over the alleged home invasion and had red marks on her neck.

“Everything Tracey told me, it appeared to be that way to me,” Marie Friedman said. “There was no question in my mind that she would not be telling the truth.”

Ray Friedman was driving home from Minneapolis with Roberts when they heard about the shooting. He said he let Roberts drive his car home because he could navigate dirt roads faster.

A defense lawyer noted Roberts, who was investigated in connection with the shooting but is not a suspect, planned the business trip and gave Ray Friedman a $5,000 bonus and a $20,000 raise shortly afterward.

Ray Friedman bristled at the suggestion that he was paid off, saying he asked for a raise to reflect the business he was bringing in and left the firm when he tired of the Roberts’ antics.

“You just never knew what was going on,” he said. “I didn’t like the rollercoaster ride there. I live a very peaceful life and I don’t want to be involved in other people’s issues or chaos.”